LKY was always the smartest man in the room. Humble but firm and unwavering on principle. When i look at the quality of world leadership today, I mourn.
Thank you! He lives on in the hearts of many. He is indeed the kind of leader the world desperately needs now- he is principled yet pragmatic enough to get things done. And he truly taking good care of his people.
Speeches of LKY are timeless. I never tire listening to them. This is how Singaporeans should remember our founding father, a man who strived not for gold, glory nor self, but dedicated wholeheartedly his entire life for others and country. To even say he was a man in a million holds no justice. Aptly put, he was simply someone from out of this world. He will be sorely missed. RIP LKY.
Singapore was so lucky to have a leader like LKY in its founding years and I was lucky to have grown up in Singapore and enjoyed it's stability. Something one shouldn't take for granted for such a tiny country without any natural resources and with such a diverse population.
Ya, also today, 13th April 2020, the late Mr Lee passed away five years ago, we still miss him, if he is still alive, I would be curious of how Mr Lee responds to the current 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe right now.
I’m a Chinese who live in Canada,LKY was my favourite leader in the world, he is smartest guy and kind-hearted to his people,If every countries leaders would learn form him,the people will be full of happiness ,the world will be wonderful.
@@Bluesvxbe Rwanda under Kagame is a full blown dictatorship..and Kagame lies too much,and kills opponents too much...he aint no leader,just a psycho with too much PR machinery..we know him,aint no LKY in there...LKY at year 25 it was a first world already,Kagame at year 24 nothing is there...not even on Kenya's level..Kagame is full of nonsense...Lets talk about superpower Kenya
@@paylesslimited4399 the average person in africa is really not interested in politics. People just want to get buy (food on the table). So a benevolent dictator is better than beijing biden if you ask me. Is there growth in Rwanda ? Yes is there ease in doing business in Rwanda? Yes. I am zimbabwean and I am telling you Rwanda has got some things right.
Listen Sri Lanka and India Press Freedom Fighters - be wise. Be Relevant to the place you belong; don't be just parrots! Press freedom is not a right; but a privilege in a developing country! Love this wise man !
Fast forward to 2021. US model of media proved to be a disaster in its own turf. QAnon, WSJ to Fox versus Cnn to NYT, both side is spreading lies, hates and conspiracy to pin and divide the country. Thank you LKY, you have saved your Singapore from our media madness, but not us! At the end, media is running the US. LKY was a strong visionary leader, never backed down for his people and nation.
@@drewh3224 Freedom of press and speech has worked amazingly well for the US since their inception. Why change it? What Lee is saying is that it`s not necessarily applicable to Asia or at lease singapore
Anyone wishes to throw down the gauntlet and expecting LKY to be intimidated better think twice. His brilliant oratory skills and linguistic precision of the English language is renowned.
Just wondering....was there anyone in history who was able to go toe to toe with LKY? Only one I can think of was charlie rose but that was because he knew when to probe and when to stay silent
As an outsider i think LKY understands south east asian politics better than most leaders in that region. He is also very well aware of what works and what doesnt for his country rather than blindly adopt the political structure of others
+Tao Tao however, don't forget that Singapore has elections which allow society to self-correct and for the people to seek changes through the ballot. This means, in this case, we can decide just how much we should be insulated from foreign propaganda.
There are a lot good things we china can learn from Singapore such like environment friendly society. including policy towards media affairs. of course
@@MikeyJJJ You can go research on LKY's view on universal suffrage. He was not in favour of it. Politicians usually only work for votes but not for their people's welfare. He believed in meritocracy and bringing in the best people into the government.
Lee Kuan Yew lives on in the hearts of many. He is indeed the kind of leader the world desperately needs now- he is principled yet pragmatic enough to get things done. And he truly taking good care of his people.
LKY has had perspectives because he grew up in WW2, went through the turmoil of the world, almost got killed during Japanese occupation and even experienced being a "second degree" citizen of a colony. He built a nation, in fact, united a nation in a very divided world. Because of that, he was always keenly aware the danger of protectionism, lacking of cooperation and understanding will undoubtedly lead to distrust and even conflict. Some one who went through war will never want another war. The sad thing of human being is that, once we heal, we forget the pain, the world we live in today is lead by people who have not been through WW2, who do not understand the true suffering behind war, what's more, war mongers are now in positions of influence because it serves their personal agendas. LKY was one of the last World war generation leader in the world who, with all his life experiences, reminded him to aways avoid the things that could lead to conflict. That's truly what made Singapore a success. Media is a powerful tool, it affects the emotions of the masses, to incite anger, that leads to conflict (like today) or promote peace and collaborations, so, I guess from LKY's ideology, if the media is not promoting peace, mutual understanding and collaboration, at least, do not amplify anger and separation. The ol' saying "If you have nothing nice to say, then say nothing." Self righteous journalists would say "you are suppressing the freedom of speech and press!" So it may seem, but, rationally, which is more helpful to every one, peace or conflict? And if anger is incited, people go on the street and protest and fight, it's not journalists who are on the streets to maintain order. Isn't it?
You miss one thing - the journalists, which write provocative things, lies and misfacts are asked to do so in order to provoke a conflict. Journalism is part of politics.There is no free journalism in the world (that's why all journalists are connected to intelligence services). Whoever says there is, is lying. Such journalism is needed for those who want to trigger conflicts to achieve larger political goals. Free world is a myth. There is no free world, no democracy, no free justice (all judges are continuation of power), no free speech, these are illusions fed to the people.
This is one of the reason that I truly respect Lee KY. His speech always polite and humble but not afraid to spoke or debated with firm attitude, and he had full of information in his brain. I guessed he really good at analysis, social science and philosophy. Sometimes, I saw his other historical video, he really had skills to stop some of an agenda turn to a political matter.👍
Thank you for giving me the place to speak Tamil in Singapore .. Excellent speaker..🙏🏼..🔥👏👏Example of words spoken by one who is immortal property in the world sir..👏👏👏💝
No he was not, there was nothing new about his methods. They only seem new and ahead of their time because the West turned its back on his style of government after the Second World War. Not that it matters that young Singaporeans are now starting to chafe under the PAP.
In my much much younger days when I attended a training seminar in Philippines where I was roomed with a Filipino priest who thought I was from Singapore. During our dinner he asked if Philippines could borrow Mr. LKY just for a couple of years! This was how much respect this priest had for him. I said unfortunately, I can't since I am not from Singapore! In fact in the early 80s, our Ringgit was more "valuable" than the Singapore dollar! And to-day????!!!
"Parents know that if they take in too much of America and the West daily on and in the newspapers, the result will be disorientation because Singapore is not the West." - Lee Kuwan Yew I agree with that line very much!
@@MrRicky4309 Yea... HK is the perfect example, Taiwan is following closely behind. I'm Afraid even young Singaporeans might have aligned their mentality closer to the west.
What a wise man! 30 years later, we all see what's happening in HK. This is why CCP had to ban google, facebook, twitter, etc. LKY had told the Chinese gvmt what they should do to protect their people.
@@feihu6094 Hi there! It's nice to read from you! I want to ask you the following: (1) Are SG & China similar in terms of what they do re media censorship? (2) If both countries are similar or have similarities, to what extent are they similar? (3) Do you see any dissimilarities in what they do? My queries above are in context of leniency. Apparently, and in the case of COVID19, SG is more lenient in the information flow than China. However, I could be wrong with my observation. I'm not obliging you to answer my queries. But I will be happy & grateful to know your thoughts! Thanks & cheers my mate!
@@user-mo1vx6oq2k That's a good point! And when reading news from any news outlet for that matter, it is healthy to be skeptic, on one hand, & have the ability to fact-check, on the other! That way, the certainty to be fooled by any attempt to misinform/misguide/disinform by some practitioners in journalism is reduced.
My utmost respect to you MR Lee Kuan Yew. I am so proud to be a Singaporean because of you. I was a teen in 1988. Always and have been in awe of you. Thank you for building Singapore to what it is today. Such an amazing country for me and my family. Thank you for all the amazing comments and praises for our founding father.
Former Senior Mentor Minister. Mr Lee Kuan Yew is always an articulated n eloquent speaker for the political or social presses. He is very knowledgeable in world affairs. Singapore is very fortunate to have Mr Lee Kuan Yew born n bred in Singapore. We Singaporean are very honour n proud to have Mr Lee Kuan Yew invited to attend the freedom of press dialogues meeting in America to give our viewpoints of the right we stand for. It is cleared that Mr Lee Kuan Yew has fully expressed our right n views to the American presses at the "Third World Perspectives Press". Convention .It was an overwhelming response from the audiences n was a success.
Didn't get to see this in 1988. First time watching this. Even if I had, I was too young to understand politics. And I say? Thank God that I was born during Lee Kuan Yew's leadership. Should thank our forefathers for electing LKY. LKY was indeed sharp, cool and wise
i agree. let me share something. im filipino and it seems he's not accurate with Marcos. we have internal issues that outside people doesn't know about which continues until now.
LKY may have governed Singapore with an iron fist, but he was grounded on principles and rational pragmatism. Had Singapore lived up to Western’s definition of liberal democracy and allowed its domestic affairs to be influenced by outsiders, Singaporeans would have become too divisive to even talk about progress. Westerners need to understand that context matters and it’s not “more freedom more prosperity”. How can we truly enjoy freedom if we have been economically disadvantaged for decades after Westerners colonized our lands and left us to our demise? It’s like a rich employer telling a poor employee to dress better when obviously he’s just trying to make ends meet.
To our late creator of our nation, father of our children we stand by your belief and forever will be thankful for what you have done for us and our future.
Mr. Lee Kuan Yee was a resilient, decisive, wise and inclusive regional leader of his era in Southeast Asia. People from elsewhere in the world who could read or understand English should listen to and try their best to understand what Mr. Lee stated and commented. The world is not as simple as black or white, west or east, free or dictatorship. Less misunderstanding among the people from different part of the world would bring more peace and harmony to human beings as a whole.
he said ' I dont like to just sprouts words. I always back up my words by hard facts. Memory can fade and be lost. But when you store them in hard facts that makes it more tangible. more believable. And now we have POFMA to force the people FROM sprouting untruths.
Very much ahead of his time. The 2011 Arab Spring can be partly attributed to western style media undermining the middle east. Syria should have listen and learned from this man 20yrs prior.
It is a no brainer if you live in Asia, open your eyes and you can see the problem with irresponsible press. Problem with the west is that they are too arrogant/complacent/blind to care about the plight of other countries, or to consider Asian socio-political viewpoints despite claiming to be freedom crusaders.
Alot of the success that you see Singapore has today is because of that. Also, just curious, would you want to live in Singapore? Like could you manage living here?
@Biliary Clinton Let me clarify your doubts. Singapore has to adopt the measures it had to because of its size and limited resources. There simply was no breathing space for shenanigans like worrying about " human rights " or " freedom ". These terms are used loosely nowadays, people think freedom just means being able to say what you want, do what you please, but in the 1950s, freedom has a different word for singaporeans. Back in those days, many singaporeans were rural poor, living in kampung villages and many not even having basic housing. Constant fear walking on the streets, secret societies roaming about. That was the environment that LKY was trying to pull Singapore out of. Freedom for LKY back then was the sense of security. Being able to walk freely on the streets at night, having a permanent house that you don't have to worry will burn at night. But he couldn't do that without negative backlash. When he wanted to shift the rural poor into high rise buildings he faced serious criticisms from news media riding on the wave of sensationalism. You'll see headlines like " Government trying to evict kampung dwellers out! " and media trying to fight back against this. Decisions have to be made in tough times and LKY was a man of great determination. He made a call and went with it. 50 years later we thank him. Without the invention of HDB and the relocation of kampung dwellers into these high rise buildings, singapore would not be where it is today. Imagine if he had given in to media backlash, caved in on his decisions. Singapore simply had no leeway for such mistakes. On the brink of resource scarcity, the dire situation of the Singaporean economy forced LKY to make tough decisions. We can't compare Singapore with developed nations. Australia, US, and most Western States have plenty of land, plenty of resources. You guys don't have to worry about cramming 100 people in a single building, you have so much space to spread it all out. Western countries have the luxury to worry about things like " freedom " because the circumstances the country was formed in was not as dire as Singapore. You guys can afford to make compromise, Singapore can't. One silly move and the small island becomes forgotten.
Despite Mr LKY clear and simple explanation on Singapore & Asia's unique mixture of race, culture, language, world view, I am surprised that some in the audience can ask irrelevant questions. Its either their ears and brains are left at home or they still believed that whatever works for US should work for the rest of the world. Its not so simple. What LKY explained is a gentle reminder to Americans to understand the diversity and unique and vast differences in other parts of the world that US system may not work effectively everywhere otherwise we all can become like Native Americans ( culturally wiped out) bcoz the whites failed to first understand native Americans believing always their superiority
LKY really foresaw the extreme partisanship problem in US... And he even hinted at what the situation of Hong Kong might turn out to be in the future after the handover(29:00)
I admit that his view was so accurate about Hongkong. And right now, even the Hongkong independent movement has been happening for years, I wonder if Hongkong became fully (or partially) independent from China, will it help the poverty and the labour class in Hongkong improving their living condition? Or it is just another revolution for the upper class and semi-upper class, while ignored the interest of the substantial population in lower class.
I am in awe of mr Lee Kuan Yew taking on the American Press at their turf and explaining his decisions with such pragmatism and his knowledge of the Asian countries are phenomonal! Imagine if China had similar leaders to take them on, it would have made china more convincing to the world, unfortunately, there's only one lee kuan yew in this world!
@lu andy If the majority of Chinese can speak English, some people or establishment will lost its position and power. They are trying hard to stop this from happening, in case that China become another country. Therefore, it's not that they are proud of their mother tongue inherently, but they have to restrict the influence of English. If China can find their identity or a proper mission in 21th century and stand unshaken in front of westerner's values and economics, maybe they can use English more.
@@chiamingtu1833 Well believe what you believe, but don’t speak representing others. As a Chinese, I speak 3 foreign languages in a proficient level, and know some basic conversations in other 2 languages. I never realized how beautiful Chinese language is until I compare it with other languages. I do feel very lucky to be a Chinese speaker, it allows me to appreciate literature and history of 1000 years ago, not to mention the culture behind it. It’s not politically correct to compare the cultures and give them a rating, but personally I do feel the difference when I travel around the world. In some regions it’s just hard to find genuine and sparkling thoughts in books written in their original languages. I wouldn’t doubt that ppl identifies more with the culture and the land in regions with rich cultures.
Why you feel the need to suck up to American Press, Just like Late Lee Kuan Yew said : Deng Xiao Ping is the most impressive man I have ever met, and LKY has met them all. Be proud and stand firm, they will try to convince you that their approval is the most important things. It is not.
i admired him so much. he is sharp, strong, direct and smart. What he said reminding me about the Chinese government to control the media in China. Yes the chinese may lose the freedom of getting news, but end of the day, from my conversation with Chinese people, filling up their stomach is the priority for this generation. Their desire for freedom and right will be come one day when the development mature.
All hands to a truly visionary President. The true jewel to Singapore. Still dreaming of having one like him here in the Philippines. Hopefully ours today can make it at par...
Innocent he’s right tho. Singapore does not have abundant natural resources like the US or China. In order for Singapore to thrive they have to make it in the world. 1000 years ago Singapore was part of an area of sea faring peoples who made trade with others. That’s how Singapore has to survive.
The speech is cultural. We accept this type of speeches from our powerful wise elders both male and female. Even my generation learnt where and what is acceptable as family. I appreciate and follow through. Thank you for this.
We need more men and women of this caliber and steel spine, RIP mr Yew. Truly a great one, and don't get the coverage he should as it will probably make the people of the world intelligent beyond what the greedy few could handle ❤️
"Let's make no bones about it. I carry my own hatchet. If you take liberties with me, I'll deal with you. I look after myself because when you enter a blind alley with the communists, only one person comes out alive and I have come out alive." ~LKY Badass
If Trump can speak as eloquently as LKY, he would be able to put his points across to the Americans and to the world. LKY was unique...he was in USA, confronting a hostile American media conference. This is real guts. LKY did not tweet or need to talk with arrogance...his English was flawless and he could convey his arguments.
Handling Q & A in measured tone & clarity -truly legendary & outstanding Mr Lee Kuan Yew! Imagine 'Fake News Distractor Trump' responding to Press in such an articulate manner?
1988. Nearly 30 years have passed since this recording. Name one western political leader over the last 30 years, who was or is his equal in statesmanship, in intelligence, in eloquence and in geopolitical insight. Lee Kuan Yew was the sign Asia has awakened and will move forwards with ever increasing speed into the future. America and other western countries with their devastating neocolonial wars are speeding backwards into the past of the old European Empires, in which the white man was master of the world. That era is over....undeniably!
Wow! No wonder Singapore Is a first world country. The last questionnaire started to question if Mr Lee was still in topic. You can see the expression on his face when the camera pointed his way. What a crafty and detailed response from Mr.Lee .
When the British left Singapore with nothing, LKY team had fought and built-up the nation and well good enough from ZERO resources, I understand why and support LYK against The Western Journal
where can we find another leader like this? under pressure and still able to articulate his thoughts soo well? especially in today's world, where riots are happening everywhere, Singapore is safe and I couldn't be prouder of what our founding father Mr Lee Kuan Yew has done for us
Islam had been prevalent in the Middle-East for 1000 years or so; LKY likely refers to the resurgence of Islam specifically in Asia or South-East Asia, as Muslim majorities came to power here and established modern governments.
Yup, he did all things that were to be done between 1950s to 2000 , and we simply ignored those things, now we cannot bring out those changes even if we want , bcz if you try to do so, then these English speaking media will come up crying for democracy, and the commies just want this, then their comes the protests.
China is a great economic success and great world power because Chinese leaders borrowed and adopted the model of governance from Singapore. India went the way of western democracy and is still a huge mess.
@@girishravi7629 Nothing important. Only a few seconds are missing - specifically 18:01:45 to 18:01:49 - probably due to a technical glitch. He was just setting the stage by describing Singapore's situation of having 3700 foreign publications and an English-educated population. The meat of the answer to the questioner comes after this point.
With all due respect Sir Founding Father, late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. An Amazing throwback indeed. This video was posted 7 yrs back. Thanx and congratulations then. Now its already 9 0ctober 2022. 🤗🤗🙏🙏🙏
If he could have run for the president of USA, he would have won by landslide and he would have been as great as Washington. What a man. What a leader for Singapore which I just visited.
"We are not the same (as USA) and probably never will be..".. How true to consider now that Americans Asians are been discriminated in their own country in America because of corona virus....We are who we are.
Browsing through YT, this video caught my attention. I watched it today, 27 May 2023 (although this video was uploaded many years ago). What Mr. LKY commented: “Ultimately .. you are (USA) the largest single factor (of the world) but not the total equation.. …” How true it is, any changes in USA could cause an impact to the rest of the world but not total damage, especially in this present times.
51:15 it seems that LKY already could foresee that US might one day abandon free trade n turn to protectionism instead. Brilliant mind...almost like god speaking thru him.
